on books, the object of which is to stimulate
invention, research, and writing by giving the full control and
protection of the government to the inventor and the writer or their
assignees. In this case the privilege is socially earned by the
monopolist; it is not gotten for nothing. Moreover, the patent, being
limited in time, expires and becomes a social possession. A third
kind is a governmental monopoly for purposes of revenue. In France and
Japan the governments control the tobacco trade, and the high price
charged for tobacco makes this monopoly yield large revenues. A fourth
kind is that derived from franchises for public service corporations,
such as those supplying electricity, gas and water. These franchises
are granted to private capitalists to induce them to invest capital in
enterprises that are helpful to the community.

Sec. 3. #Natural agents as sources of monopoly.# "Economic" monopoly,
so-called, arises when the ownership of scarce natural agents, as
mines, land, water-power, comes under the control of one man or one
group of men who agree on a price. Economic monopoly is a result of
private property that is undesigned by the government or by society.
It is exceptional, considering the whole range of private property,
but it is important. The oil-wells embracing the main sources of the
world's supply have largely come under one control. One corporation
may control so many of the richest iron mines of the country as to
be able to fix a price different from that which would result under
competition. Coal mines, especially those of some peculiar and
limited kind, such as anthracite, appear to become easily an object
of monopolization. Economic monopoly merges into political monopolies,
such as patents and franchises. Private property is a political
institution designed to further social welfare, and only rarely is
property in any particular business a monopoly. Private control of
great natural resources might have been prevented in many cases had it
been foreseen.

Sec. 4. #Capitalistic monopoly; aspects of the problem.# Capitalistic
monopoly, variously called contractual, organized, commercial or
industrial monopoly, arises when men unite their wealth to control
a market, to overpower or intimidate opposition, and to keep out or
limit competition by the mere magnitude of their wealth. These
various kinds so merge into each other that they cannot always be
distinguished in practice. A patent may help a